Just Released! Order “Waking Up to Climate Change” by George Ropes, and receive 25% Discount. Learn More

HOME          CATEGORIES          OUR TAKE

Climate Change in the Dominican Republic: Spreading the Word. By City Tech Blogger Leonardo Ramos

Having gone on vacation this summer to the Dominican Republic, I got to witness some of my family’s reactions to the current state of their home country. On the car ride from Puerto Plata to Jayaco, we passed so many types of plants and trees, which they kept saying looked “sick.” Jayaco locals say the plant conditions are due to a decrease in rain they have noticed over the decades. They couldn’t seem to explain why this is, but they were certain that was the reason. This is merely their observation through memory, but could very well be true. Climate change affects the country more than they know.

In 2017, the Dominican Republic was ranked the 11th most vulnerable country to climate change. Coastal regions experience flooding, rural areas experience droughts, and this lead to damaged crops and loss of soil fertility. Since it sits in the middle of a hurricane belt, storms often damage the hotels and resorts, as well as other infrastructures. In 2013, the country had GHG emissions of 24.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), roughly 0.05 percent of global emissions. Although the Dominican Republic joined the Paris Agreement in September 2017, committing to bring down their emissions 25% by 2030, they currently emit 26.4 MtCO2e, 0.07 percent of global emissions. The target cities include Santo Domingo, Santiago, Las Terrenas, and San Pedro de Macoris, 4 of the largest. However, it is important that the government gets word out to its people.

Jayaco, a town on the outskirts of Bonao, looks the same as it did when I visited 9 years ago. The streets are still damaged, there are no governing officials or law enforcement present, and the people rely on themselves in order to keep their town together. They rely on the energy they are provided, between the hours of 7 A.M. to 1 P.M., then 3 P.M. to 7 P.M. The rest of the hours, they use generators to power their homes, if any. I asked my family why they don’t invest in solar panels, given the abundance of sunshine, they said they don’t really see much of them and frankly, the townspeople don’t understand how they work. They are not being educated on such an effective solution to reducing GHG emissions because they aren’t reached out to.

Of course, there are many other problems and other solutions that can be put in place. Perhaps setting up centers and programs can help educate and improve these small communities in need. While this will not solve the world’s problems, perhaps it is a step in the right direction.

 

 

Comment on this article

ClimateYou moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (New York time) and can only accept comments written in English.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE


More Posts Like This

CITY TECH BLOG

How Electric Vehicles Can Mitigate Climate Change

Climate change is now one of the most critical challenges facing humanity today, with its expansive consequences affecting ecosystems, economies, and human well-being.  A disturbing and meaningful contributor to this global crisis is the combustion of fossil fuels, primarily in the form of gasoline and diesel, which powers

CITY TECH BLOG

How does Climate Change Affect Our World?

If you can recall from ‘My Take On Climate Change’ essay, I spoke about all the causes and examples of climate change and my general opinion on such matters. I spoke about a scenario at the beginning on how climate change is affecting our world right now such

CITY TECH BLOG

How Climate Change Affects My Country, the Dominican Republic

Here’s a question: How does climate change affect agriculture, industry or tourism, and people impacted such as farmers, city dwellers, and the poor? Since I’m from the Dominican Republic as stated in a previous essay, it climate change affects the entire country in a variety of ways. One